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Three people were arrested Tuesday, Xiao Bo-ren, the Tainan government's legal affairs secretary, told CNN. All are former executives of the real estate development company that built Tainan's 17-story Weiguan Golden Dragon tower, which collapsed when the magnitude-6.4 tremor hit early Saturday. Lin Ming-hui, former chairman of the now defunct Weiguan company, and two other former executives -- Chang Kui-an and Cheng Chin-kui -- face charges of professional negligence resulting in death. The ruins of the toppled high-rise are the most visible evidence of the massive quake, which killed at least 40 people in the normally quiet city of 1.9...

The United States is "way past due" to meet Taiwan's request for updated F-16 fighter jets to help plug a growing gap with China, said a former U.S. official overseeing Air Force programs designed to help the self-governing island keep up its defences. "Acquiring new F-16s, in my view, is about maintaining the very same deterrent capability that we helped Taiwan achieve in the late 1990s," Bruce Lemkin told Reuters in an interview. Lemkin, who resigned on June 19 after nearly seven years as the Air Force's deputy under secretary for international affairs, led Air Force efforts to build partnerships...

Taiwan might have to wait until the end of next year before the United States approves the sale of F16C/D jets, reports said Sunday. The government has been asking Washington for 66 of the more sophisticated C/D versions of its existing F16A/B fighters, but the Obama Administration has so far not given the go-ahead for the deal. The current visits by American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt and by three U.S. Senate Democrats – Dianne Feinstein of California, Mark Udall of Colorado and Kay Hagan of North Carolina – have led to more speculation about progress on the arms...

Taiwan hopes to maintain air operations in the event of a military conflict with China by using vertical and short take-off and landing aircraft. VSTOL fighters would allow Taiwan to maintain fighter operations should Chinese missiles damage the island's military runways, says US-based think-tank the Project 2049 Institute in a report entitled Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia Pacific Region. Former US deputy assistant secretary of state Randall Schriver heads the institute. While at the State Department, Schriver was responsible for issues relating to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The report quotes former Taiwanese air force commander Liu Guili as...

It was right for Taiwan’s military to be moving toward the development of a mid-range ground-to-ground missile, Vice Defense Minister Andrew Yang said Monday, though he failed to confirm reports of tests. Ruling Kuomintang lawmaker Ting Shou-chung asked Yang at the Legislative Yuan whether he had visited the United States to explain planned tests in June at the Chiupeng military base in Pingtung County. Yang denied he had traveled to the U.S. and failed to give a direct answer to the question about the missile test, only saying it was right for the military to be thinking about developing the...

Field training for the annual Hankuang war games this year will be brought forward to late April to allow the troops to be deployed to help combat possible flooding in the coming typhoon season later in the year, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced Tuesday at a news conference. Lee Yue-chang, assistant deputy chief of the General Staff for Operations and Planning under the MND, said the field training will be held in late April instead of in the traditional July-October period so that the troops can be better trained in May and June in preparation...

China continues its planning to invade Taiwan and now has more than 900 missile targeted on the island, Taiwanese officials said last week. “Despite China's impressive economic rise, it has become more authoritarian, posing a grave threat to our sovereignty and abusing human rights like never before," Taiwanese President Chen Shuibian said. Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu also said in Taipei that China is a threat and has supported some of the world’s most notorious violators of human rights. Chinese missiles are located in five bases in nearby Fujian Province. Additionally, China now has 11 military satellites in orbit....